Major Security Flaw in 2.0.2

[MojoWill]

2 things:

1) Just change your double tap shortcut to iPod then people can't access your personal data, names numbers email etc

2) Hit emergency Call type in any number you like and it will call not just emergency services (911,999,112etc) i just tried it calling my landline it worked!

 

[Niiro13]

2) Hit emergency Call type in any number you like and it will call not just emergency services (911,999,112etc) i just tried it calling my landline it worked!

Does AT&T charge a huge fee if it's not emergency service?

 

[whooleytoo]

I couldn't reproduce this, but I presume only because I don't have any Favourites.

Since Apple testers probably wouldn't have favourites on their test iPhones (they'd wipe them before every OS build), it's easy to see how this was missed.

 

[nkawtg72]

Bs ?!

Well, here is my problem with apple.

We had our first child last year and were in the hospital for 2 weeks due to issues with the baby. We took all our pictures on our iphone. Then I came home and accidentally dropped it in the bathtub. I let it dry for days and then tried turning it on. The entire screen would show but only the touch censors on the top half worked. Having my phone password protected, I couldn't access anything because I couldn't type in the bottom keys. So all my pictures were sitting on the phone but I could not sync them to my computer or view them.

I called apple to find out if they have a way of bypassing the password. Negative! They claimed they had no way to help me whatsoever. There should be a way to type in the password via your keyboard on your computer I said... they agreed but it wasn't possible.

After that I demanded to speak with an apples supervisors, supervisors, supervisor where he came up with this great idea to try iphonedrive software. It allowed me to access everything that was on my iphone and without my password. Scary, but due to my circumstances and apples stupidity on this issue... it saved me!

So, apple needs to prevent leaks but it also needs to be sure there is a backup plan should a problem like mine arise.

hmmm, i don't know about the rest of you but i think i'm going to have to call this post by John-S a bunch of BS. here's why.

i could be wrong with this so feel free to correct me. i'm also at work and not at home to test it to make sure i'm correct.

i couldve sworn that with my iPod AND my iPhone the instructions for the Passcode protection said that if you ever forget the password, all you have to do is connect it to the computer it is set up to sync with, open iTunes, and the Passcode would be disabled.

am i wrong? i know i've done it with my 5th Gen iPod, but don't recall doing that with my iPhone.

even so, what on earth was apple to have done different when they designed the iPhone to have made saving you from your own stupidity and carelessness any easier?

i hope your child is doing fine, but your personal circumstances or the importance of the information on the iphone has nothing to do with apple needing to be more responsible for your mistakes or misfortune.

again, i could be wrong on the steps for bypassing the Passcode feature, but i still don't blame apple in that situation.

 

[iblastoff]

Well, here is my problem with apple.

We had our first child last year and were in the hospital for 2 weeks due to issues with the baby. We took all our pictures on our iphone. Then I came home and accidentally dropped it in the bathtub. I let it dry for days and then tried turning it on. The entire screen would show but only the touch censors on the top half worked. Having my phone password protected, I couldn't access anything because I couldn't type in the bottom keys. So all my pictures were sitting on the phone but I could not sync them to my computer or view them.

I called apple to find out if they have a way of bypassing the password. Negative! They claimed they had no way to help me whatsoever. There should be a way to type in the password via your keyboard on your computer I said... they agreed but it wasn't possible.

After that I demanded to speak with an apples supervisors, supervisors, supervisor where he came up with this great idea to try iphonedrive software. It allowed me to access everything that was on my iphone and without my password. Scary, but due to my circumstances and apples stupidity on this issue... it saved me!

So, apple needs to prevent leaks but it also needs to be sure there is a backup plan should a problem like mine arise.

worst example i have ever read. i feel terrible for your baby.

 

[MarkW]

hmmm, i don't know about the rest of you but i think i'm going to have to call this post by John-S a bunch of BS. here's why.

i could be wrong with this so feel free to correct me. i'm also at work and not at home to test it to make sure i'm correct.

i couldve sworn that with my iPod AND my iPhone the instructions for the Passcode protection said that if you ever forget the password, all you have to do is connect it to the computer it is set up to sync with, open iTunes, and the Passcode would be disabled.

am i wrong? i know i've done it with my 5th Gen iPod, but don't recall doing that with my iPhone.

even so, what on earth was apple to have done different when they designed the iPhone to have made saving you from your own stupidity and carelessness any easier?

i hope your child is doing fine, but your personal circumstances or the importance of the information on the iphone has nothing to do with apple needing to be more responsible for your mistakes or misfortune.

again, i could be wrong on the steps for bypassing the Passcode feature, but i still don't blame apple in that situation.

No, IIRC, on the iPods, you had to set your passcode each time you locked it - and so plugging it into iTunes unlocked it - the iPhone retains your passcode and it will still be locked (and have the same passcode) when you unplug it.
If you do forget your passcode for your iPhone however, you can plug it into iTunes, and then perform a restore.




To everyone who is saying things along the lines of "omg! this is a major flaw someone should get fired! Apple's quality is plummeting" - sometimes these things slip through - it took us (i.e. all the iPhone customers - which is what? thousands? millions?) months to spot this - Apple only has a small team developing the iPhone software - what do you want from them? They're only human!

 

[metfoo]

oh great, another turd? why do you say that?

I cant get into specifics, however many of the problems that people have still exist, and in the case of b4, occur more often

 

[group09]

LOL.


You took all your baby pics with a crappy phone camera instead of a real camera. Mistake 1.

You dropped it in a bathtub. Mistake 2.

You broke the phone and your password can't be entered, so you ask Apple to help you crack it.

They do help you get past the password and you get your photos, but that makes them stupid.

Apple needs to keep the phone secure, unless someone *really* needs to get inside it.


Waaay too funny. Do you have any idea how preposterously priceless your entire post is? The customer service rep who fielded your call deserves a raise.

Wow, that's rich. Good response. You can't expect to blame Apple for something that was your own fault. If you're going to go around dropping your phone in the tub, at least back it up first. Priceless is right.

 

[bradl]

Not that it means anything as it has already been reported, but this is confirmed to work on 2.0. So it's safe to say that any software >= 1.1.3 is vulnerable to this.

Now the other question since this gets you access to Safari, is does this work on the iPod Touch? If so, then something will definitely have to come out to fix it, and before 2.1 (unless they push 2.1 out a bit longer to include the features reported to be in it, other bugfixes, and something for this). I don't think they'd make a fix just for this for the iPhone only, so it would be right to think that this problem exists on the Touch as well.

Anyone with an iPod Touch willing to set a passcode for it (if even possible), and test to see if you can get to Safari this way?

BL.

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

Haha... I love this...

'We've found a flaw that could potentially allow someone to compromise our phone... let's publicize it!'

Steps for this to be a problem:
1) Lose your iPhone.
2) Have sensitive information on your iPhone (that someone cares about).
3) Have your iPhone recovered by someone unethical.
4) That unethical person actually knows how to do this.
5) That unethical person would actually know what to do with the information!

It is a pretty interesting exploit, but I'm not going to lose sleep.

 

[bradl]

Haha... I love this...

'We've found a flaw that could potentially allow someone to compromise our phone... let's publicize it!'

Steps for this to be a problem:
1) Lose your iPhone.
2) Have sensitive information on your iPhone (that someone cares about).
3) Have your iPhone recovered by someone unethical.
4) That unethical person actually knows how to do this.
5) That unethical person would actually know what to do with the information!

It is a pretty interesting exploit, but I'm not going to lose sleep.

And why not publicize it? That way it would be a known problem with a known fix to it and no-one would be able to exploit it. That's how bug tracking and fixing should be.

Granted, they told Apple (a good thing), and should have given Apple time to fix it (which they are, and have already announced). So when they release it, they make the flaw public, and not that there is a fix for it.

Have a look at Bugtraq at SecurityFocus.com and then come back and look at your post again. You'll see how grandiose you're making things out to be.

BL.

 

[JPIndustrie]

LOL.


You took all your baby pics with a crappy phone camera instead of a real camera. Mistake 1.

You dropped it in a bathtub. Mistake 2.

You broke the phone and your password can't be entered, so you ask Apple to help you crack it.

They do help you get past the password and you get your photos, but that makes them stupid.

Apple needs to keep the phone secure, unless someone *really* needs to get inside it.


Waaay too funny. Do you have any idea how preposterously priceless your entire post is? The customer service rep who fielded your call deserves a raise.

AHHAAHHAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHAHHH HAHHAHAHA.

I totally concur.

John-S, Bottom line, it should be a "problem with yourself", not Apple. O

 

[Phil A.]

Not that it means anything as it has already been reported, but this is confirmed to work on 2.0. So it's safe to say that any software >= 1.1.3 is vulnerable to this.

Now the other question since this gets you access to Safari, is does this work on the iPod Touch? If so, then something will definitely have to come out to fix it, and before 2.1 (unless they push 2.1 out a bit longer to include the features reported to be in it, other bugfixes, and something for this). I don't think they'd make a fix just for this for the iPhone only, so it would be right to think that this problem exists on the Touch as well.

Anyone with an iPod Touch willing to set a passcode for it (if even possible), and test to see if you can get to Safari this way?

BL.

The problem doesn't exist on the iPod touch because there is no Home Button option under settings and it always displays the iPod controls. This is on version 2.x

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

And why not publicize it? That way it would be a known problem with a known fix to it and no-one would be able to exploit it. That's how bug tracking and fixing should be.

I'm talking about the initial discovery.
A responsible person would report it to Apple and reveal nothing to the community. That way Apple can fix it and there's never actually a risk of it affecting someone negatively. It just so happens that people are far more interested in attention than they are in being responsible.

Granted, they told Apple (a good thing), and should have given Apple time to fix it (which they are, and have already announced). So when they release it, they make the flaw public, and not that there is a fix for it.

There are only two good reason to make a security flaw public.
1) It is already public to hackers. Make a temporary fix public to potential victims.
2) The company has demonstrated no interest in fixing the problem, but it is a serious threat. Make it public to force the company to release a fix.

Neither applied to this situation.

 

[Scooterman1]

Maybe I'm missing something here. Let me make sure that I understand it.
1. Everyone read the instructions in the OP's post.
2. Most every post here is setting up their iPhone like in the instructions.
3. Find as many more Favorite links as you can find to enable MORE things to be accessed.
4. When you're happy that you have found every Favorite Shortcut that you can find..... then, and then only.
5. Communicate with Apple jumping all over them about this Security Flaw/Oversight was allowed, and how you've enabled it on YOUR iPhone.

Like I said, Maybe I'm missing something.

Or, better yet, where's my Sign?

 

[greenmymac]

Maybe I'm missing something here. Let me make sure that I understand it.
1. Everyone read the instructions in the OP's post.
2. Most every post here is setting up their iPhone like in the instructions.
3. Find as many more Favorite links as you can find to enable MORE things to be accessed.
4. When you're happy that you have found every Favorite Shortcut that you can find..... then, and then only.
5. Communicate with Apple jumping all over them about this Security Flaw/Oversight was allowed, and how you've enabled it on YOUR iPhone.

Like I said, Maybe I'm missing something.

Or, better yet, where's my Sign?

Maybe im missing something by your post?

 

[WilliamG]

Haha... I love this...

'We've found a flaw that could potentially allow someone to compromise our phone... let's publicize it!'

Steps for this to be a problem:
1) Lose your iPhone.
2) Have sensitive information on your iPhone (that someone cares about).
3) Have your iPhone recovered by someone unethical.
4) That unethical person actually knows how to do this.
5) That unethical person would actually know what to do with the information!

It is a pretty interesting exploit, but I'm not going to lose sleep.

What a RIDICULOUS response.

Let's recreate it with my friend's IBM Thinkpad with sensitive and/or work-related IBM information on it since, you know, he works for IBM.

"Hey friend! Disable ALL your passwords! You don't need them! You know why? Because you'd actually have to LOSE your laptop for someone UNETHICAL to poke around on it, so just don't lose your laptop and there's no problem! Woohoo!"

It's not that it's LIKELY to happen. It's the possibility that it COULD happen.

 

[John-S]

What the heck? I never would have dreamed I would have got attacked on this? Thanks alot! I'll be sure to stop posting on macrumors if this is the type of response I get from a sensitive situation. Why would I be "bluffing"? Are you kidding me? I got alot better things in life to worry about pal...

I was in the hospital for a couple weeks not knowing if my baby was going to live. I had a normal camera but I was really stressed out and wasn't even thinking about taking pictures so when I did it was with my phone because the normal camera was in our room at a different part of the hospital from where they kept our baby.

The iphone WILL NOT sync the photos without a password entered on the phone first at that time and I'm sure probably now.

The apple techs were just as frustrated as I was with apple in the situation and they told me so. I wasn't mean to them and I just got home from spending weeks in a hospital so I didn't have a chance to sync it yet.

I'm not trying to have apple make a way for people to crack iphones. What I'm saying AND the techs were saying is that apple needs to have the software setup so that when you hook it to your computer for syncing... you can type your current password on your keyboard instead of on the phone. Either way your password is required so its not any difference in security... its just making it so that if your phone is password protected and your sensors get burned out from water damage or something... you have access to your hard drive on the phone still.

I'm not the worlds biggest idiot of getting water damage done to my phone. It happens to people all the time with the iphones. It was in my jacket pocket and when I bent over to turn on the tub it fell in and I didn't realize it because I was watching my newborn in a bassinet at the same time. When I went to go into the tub I seen the phone sitting there at the bottom. My bad.

Why all the personal attacks at me? I'm just bringing out a situation that the Apple techs said they heard before. Apple didn't have a solution for it at all. It was talking with higher up tech supervisors and finally got one that had a similar problem recently and "off the books, unofficially with no relation to apple" told me about iphonedrive software and that happened to work as he expected.

 

[Cromulent]

Well, here is my problem with apple.

We had our first child last year and were in the hospital for 2 weeks due to issues with the baby. We took all our pictures on our iphone. Then I came home and accidentally dropped it in the bathtub. I let it dry for days and then tried turning it on. The entire screen would show but only the touch censors on the top half worked. Having my phone password protected, I couldn't access anything because I couldn't type in the bottom keys. So all my pictures were sitting on the phone but I could not sync them to my computer or view them.

I called apple to find out if they have a way of bypassing the password. Negative! They claimed they had no way to help me whatsoever. There should be a way to type in the password via your keyboard on your computer I said... they agreed but it wasn't possible.

After that I demanded to speak with an apples supervisors, supervisors, supervisor where he came up with this great idea to try iphonedrive software. It allowed me to access everything that was on my iphone and without my password. Scary, but due to my circumstances and apples stupidity on this issue... it saved me!

So, apple needs to prevent leaks but it also needs to be sure there is a backup plan should a problem like mine arise.

How is that anything bad with Apple? Sounds like you screwed up and wanted Apple to fix everything for you, when they did in fact fix everything it still wasn't good enough for you. Unbelievable.

 

[Scooterman1]

Maybe im missing something by your post?

The post is asking why I would be SO stupid as to enable ALL of the flaws on my iPhone, and then have the gall to complain to Apple that I was stupid enough to do that, and make it sound like it was their fault.

 

[Phil A.]

Maybe I'm missing something here. Let me make sure that I understand it.
1. Everyone read the instructions in the OP's post.
2. Most every post here is setting up their iPhone like in the instructions.
3. Find as many more Favorite links as you can find to enable MORE things to be accessed.
4. When you're happy that you have found every Favorite Shortcut that you can find..... then, and then only.
5. Communicate with Apple jumping all over them about this Security Flaw/Oversight was allowed, and how you've enabled it on YOUR iPhone.

Like I said, Maybe I'm missing something.

Or, better yet, where's my Sign?

If you use the phone as intended then it is vulnerable: The only thing you have to do to a "stock" phone is add someone to your favourites who happens to have a telephone number, address or web page associated with them. I wouldn't have thought it is unreasonable to expect the phone to allow you to do that without opening up a big security hole...

 

[greenmymac]

If you use the phone as intended then it is vulnerable: The only thing you have to do to a "stock" phone is add someone to your favourites who happens to have a telephone number, address or web page associated with them. I wouldn't have thought it is unreasonable to expect the phone to allow you to do that without opening up a big security hole...

agreed. I dont care if this loop hold only let someone into my favorites its still an issue of security that needs fixed...

 

[John-S]

How is that anything bad with Apple? Sounds like you screwed up and wanted Apple to fix everything for you, when they did in fact fix everything it still wasn't good enough for you. Unbelievable.

"Apple" didn't fix it. Not at all. An employee for them "unoffically" had an idea that this might work. Apple had no solutions for me through 3 phone calls but I was so desperate I just kept calling till I came across someone that had an "idea" that he would probably get in trouble for telling me about since it is showing off a bit of a security hole.

I'm wanting there to be a way that there is no security hole. Just that you type the code in on your computer keyboard instead of your phone. Then it covers security and gives those damaged phones access to their hard drives without paying $400 of data recovery to use the same $5 iphonedrive program (I'm guessing).

 

[The General]

You can open the AppStore through Safari and when you install apps, it will ask for your password when you type the passcode in the normal way.

Also, if you have BossPrefs set for the double tap, it will open without typing in the passcode. Then hit Power on the bottom and do a fast respring, and you have 100% access to the phone and all programs. Without typing the passcode in.

 

[JML42691]

...I'm not the worlds biggest idiot of getting water damage done to my phone. It happens to people all the time with the iphones. It was in my jacket pocket and when I bent over to turn on the tub it fell in and I didn't realize it because I was watching my newborn in a bassinet at the same time. When I went to go into the tub I seen the phone sitting there at the bottom. My bad.

Why all the personal attacks at me? I'm just bringing out a situation that the Apple techs said they heard before. Apple didn't have a solution for it at all. It was talking with higher up tech supervisors and finally got one that had a similar problem recently and "off the books, unofficially with no relation to apple" told me about iphonedrive software and that happened to work as he expected.

Granted, I was not one of the people attacking you for taking pictures on the phone, or any other reasons like that, I was just saying that you are wishing for a little bit much by asking for there to be a safe-guard measure for every possible user-influenced error. And I do not think that Apple would need to have a way to type in the password on the computer for your situation, because this situation was user caused (even if it were an accident). If Apple were to spend the time putting in all of these measures to safe-guard user errors, then there would be no time for them to develop new features for the iPhone. There is no need to have a way to enter the passcode on the computer as long as the user treats the iPhone in a way that it should be treated.

I personally was not attacking you, and I do find your story to be 100% truthful. So please do not take my post as attacking as that was not my intention in writing it, but I cannot speak for the others here. Glad to here that it sounds like your baby is alright and I hope that it is doing fine.

And as to those who are complaining that somebody would publicly post a security hole in a device, who are you kidding. This helped to get the word out, and there is a way for the user to fix it themselves. It would be a completely different matter if there were no fix, but that is not the case.